Ask users for…

Email address

Usage

When to use this pattern

• When you need to collect an email address. For example, for contact information.

Examples

How to design and build

How this pattern works

• If possible, tell users why you want their email address. Users need to know that the VA won’t abuse their email and which email they’d like to provide. An example message is: Please enter your contact information so we can get in touch with you if we have questions about your application.
• Validate email addresses. You should validate email addresses so you can let users know if they have entered one incorrectly. A validation message for when a user forgets the “@”: Please enter a valid email address. A validation message for when a user doesn’t use the same email in the “Confirm email address” field: This email doesn’t match the one you entered above.

Content considerations

Error message templates for email addresses

When a user doesn’t enter an email address:

Say ‘Please enter an email address’

When a user doesn’t enter an email address in the correct format:

Say ‘Please enter an email address using this format: X@X.com’

When a user doesn’t use the same email in the “Confirm email address” field:

Say ‘This email doesn’t match the one you entered above’.